A childhood daydream came to mind today. This was when I was in Cameroon – maybe 5th or 6th grade? In those days I remember that my brothers and I used to play “military drills” with some of our friends. I often got the privilege of being the signaler, indicating which direction the next person needed to run and hide. Maybe it’s because I had a watch and I could time everyone so we could work on improving our time. What’s funny is that I don’t recall us ever operating with two teams. We were always just one team (according to my memory), practicing drills and preparing for an imaginary enemy. I am happy to report that we were never defeated!
Anyway, those play days must have prompted my daydreams during that time. I imagined growing up under the guidance of gendarmes. At that point, all I had seen of gendarmes were men in fatigues (or not) with weapons (or not) at road-side checkpoints. But I believed (or wanted to believe) that they had actually had some sort of military training and that it would be cool to have military training. I didn’t focus much on why military training would be required or the circumstances that could call upon those skills. It was just cool to HAVE those skills (even if all you ever did was stop people at checkpoints and ask for their “particulars”).
So I daydreamed that I somehow got connected to a group of gendarmes. [OK, even at an early age, my daydreams required a measure of logic. How would I, a missionary kid, possibly come under the apprenticeship or upbringing of gendarmes?? The logical reason I came up with is probably also the reason I kept the daydream to myself lest I be misunderstood. My conclusion was that something happened to my parents so some kind gendarmes took us under their wing. Yes, I know that’s not entirely realistic but it was something (and it prompted a conversation with my mother during which I found out there really was a contingency plan if something ever happened to them).]
These gendarmes were very nice, but certainly had talent, strength, and military competence to draw upon if/when needed. I suppose they didn’t know quite what to do with my brothers and myself except include us in military training and prepare us to fend for ourselves. Thus began some wonderful military instruction in my imagination. And of course I imagined that my brothers and I got quite good at it too. Given my interest level and imagination at the time, I wonder if I would have picked up on Krav Maga easier than I do now. Fortunately, I’m not trying to become a gendarme right now.
All that was just to share some childhood daydreams and memories. It was fun to reflect and share. And I wonder if “normal” people daydreamed like that when they were kids too?? Granted, I used the cultural context with which I was familiar, but do other kids daydream about being raised/trained by military professionals?? Hmm, maybe not…
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